William Daddano Sr. (December 28, 1912 – September 9, 1975), also known as "William Russo" and "Willie Potatoes," was a top enforcer and loan shark for the Chicago Outfit and a participant in some high-profile robberies.
By 1936, at age 24, Daddano had accumulated an extensive criminal record in the 42-Gang, including nine counts of bank robbery, larceny and auto theft.[citation needed] Giancana and Battaglia eventually recruited Daddano into the Chicago Outfit. In 1944,[1] Daddano was arrested for attempting to steal three million war ration stamps. While police suspected that the Outfit was behind this crime, Daddano refused to name his accomplices. After World War II, Daddano became a leading enforcer for The Outfit. He also controlled illegal gambling operations in Dupage, Will and Kane counties[2] and in the Chicago suburbsofCicero and Berwyn.
Though a "made man" and valued "capo" in the Chicago Outfit. Daddano has been described as a "ruthless and pitiless killer" who was refined in torture with ice picks and blowtorches, keeping victims alive for hours while torturing them.[2] In 1963, he had left a Capone-era mobster's wake with DeStefano, in his Cadillac, with Chicago police in hot pursuit of the speeding car.[3] Daddano was the main suspect in at least seven murders.[2]
Daddano also had the responsibility to know who every Chicago burglar was, so that the Chicago Outfit could take a "street tax ('Tribute')" percentage of everything he stole.[4]
A legitimate business that Daddano owned and operated in much of Chicago was a garbage collection company named, "West Suburban Scavanger [sic?] Service".[2][5]
On September 9, 1975, he died of natural causes in prison, three months after Giancana was executed in the basement of his home by someone who has never been positively identified.
^Russo, Gus, Outfit, The (2001), pgs. 184ff; Giancana was not part of the Outfit until February 1945, when he became Tony Accardo's driver; but Giancana apparently did not return to the 42-Gang after leaving prison in 1942. He went "legit" for those few years.
